The holiday of Passover celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, but the Haggadah doesn\’t mention. Nachshon ben Aminadav. Who was this man?
Israeli politics were shaken to their core by dark horse newcomers belonging to a party few had heard of. Close to a quarter of a million Israelis voted for the Pensioners Party, also known as GIL (age), a party run by nonpoliticians that didn\’t even exist three months ago; a party founded only after the regular political parties ignored the pleas of its constituents and relegated their demands low on the totem poll.
Shabbat dinner at the home of two doctors, north of Montana Avenue in Santa Monica: There\’s a terrific chicken with lemons and green olives, the lemons plucked from a tree in the yard. There\’s crisp roasted potatoes, salad and a 1998 Cabernet. The table is set with silver candelabras and a sterling silver Kiddush fountain funnels sweet wine from one large cup into several smaller clones. My cup runneth over into a lot of little cups.
At the beginning of the Lebanon War in June 1982, my Jerusalem roommate was packing to leave for grad school in America. Each day\’s newspapers had pictures of men who\’d died at Beaufort, Damour, Sidon.
The supposedly limited operation in Lebanon had morphed into a full-scale invasion that belonged in an updated edition of \”March of Folly.\” Dedicated as I was to living in Israel, I felt a touch of envy for my roommate, soon to be at a quiet campus far away.
The Palestinian film, \”Paradise Now,\” which describes in an understanding way the lives of two Palestinian terrorists, won a string of important awards from major film festivals, culminating in this month\’s Oscar nomination as best foreign film.
